The Close Racial Kinship Between the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Turks: Macedonia and Thraceby George Nakratzas, M.D University of Thessaloniki

Here is the preface of the book:

QUOTE

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

The sole purpose of the first edition of this book was to give young Greeks another version of the origins of the modern Greek people, a rather different version, that runs counter to what has been taught in Greek schools for decades.

As the overtones of the modern Greek nationalist mythology gradually came into focus, culminating in such nationalist clichés as the assertion that ‘the Greek nation has no kin’, that the ‘Skopjans’ are ‘Gypsies’, or that the (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia is an ‘ethnic hotchpotch’, I was taken aback, and eventually got down to writing this, the third edition.

My hopes of doing what I could to set up an opposing force to this rampant nationalism have not been entirely in vain, considering that something like 3,000 copies have been sold all over the country. For a book of this nature, this is quite an achievement.

Viewed in the light of the general situation in Europe, Greece’s present foreign policy has shown that the country’s modern ideological armour is still very much the product of a nationalist upbringing, the roots of which go back to somewhere around the beginning of the nineteenth century. But the nation will never find its way in the European Union carrying this sort of ideological baggage.

One of the cornerstones of this ideology is the unrealistic theory that the modem Greeks, expressing as they do the enduring nature of the Greek language, are the biological descendants of the ancient Greeks. It was concocted in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to serve as an ideological arsenal in the efforts to create a modern Greek nation in view of the impending collapse of the feudal, theocratic Ottoman Empire. The philosophical challenge to theocracy as a social model of governance first emerged, together with the concept of human rights, in north-western Europe in the sixteenth century, the century of philosophical humanism that produced Erasmus, Shakespeare, and other great thinkers. In Greece, 400 years after the theocratic beliefs of the Middle Ages were first challenged (in 1967, to be precise), there was still talk of ‘the Greece of Greek Christians’; and even today we hear a great deal about ‘Greek Orthodox culture’ — a culture that has never in fact existed as such, being known rather as ‘Orthodox Eastern Roman culture’.

This country’s cultural backwardness has been starkly underlined by the efforts of modern Greek society to use the institution of the European City of Culture (Thessaloniki in 1997) to vaunt the mediaeval ideal of the Orthodox Eastern Roman culture of Mount Athos, not only as a historical and cultural facet of the multiethnic Byzantine Empire, but also as a ‘Greek’ national and religious heritage. These efforts may even have been subsidised by the European Union, at a time when sixty per cent of the population of the Netherlands, one of the most religious countries in Europe, have officially rejected any form of religious doctrine.

A large segment of modern Greek society, which has never really embarked upon the process of ideological modernisation, oscillates desperately between modernism and Greek Orthodox fundamentalism, displaying an inherent inability to make any sort of ideological distinction between the terms ‘race’, nationality’, and ‘cultural or ethnic identity’. Apart from the fact that even well-respected journalists are engaged in daily attempts to convince the younger generation that we are directly descended from ‘our ancient forebears’, views that go against the theory of ‘one race, one religion, one nation’ are regarded as nationally reprehensible. It is on this theory that most Greeks base their belief that there are no minorities in our country, apart from the ‘Greek Moslems’ of Western Thrace. Greek citizens who have publicly proclaimed that they do not feel like Greeks but like ethnic Macedonians or ethnic Turks have been pursued and convicted by Greek justice, which just goes to show that modem Greek society not only fails to show the necessary respect for what is different, but cannot even tolerate it. And, being in the grip of a virulent Hellenocentric egomania, this same society, while denying Greek citizens the right to any ethnic identity other than Greek, constantly exhorts Greeks living in other countries to preserve their Greek ethnic identity.

Personally, I couldn’t care less what race the citizens of modern Greece belong to; the only purpose of this book is to show, and substantiate with written documentation, how rotten and historically untenable obsessive nationalism is, in the hope of infusing as many young people as possible with respect for the right to self-determination of every Greek citizen and every ethnic group that calls itself a minority, as long as the country’s laws and territorial integrity are respected.

"The prevailing histiography of Greece and Bulgaria attempts to demonstrate that there is no such thing as Macedonian national consciousness, arguing that it is an artificial fabrication dating from only a hundred years ago. Theoretically, this is correct; the point is that both the modern Bulgarian and the modern Greek national consciousness are equally artificial and date from slightly more than two hundred years ago.

I have been trying to show that, two hundred years ago, the ancestors of the present-day Greeks neither spoke Greek nor had Greek national consciousness - without in any way calling into question the Greek national consciousness of Modern day Greeks. By the same token, the consciousness or national identity of other peoples, such as the Macedonians, also cannot be called into question."

"The oldest inhabitants of Valmada speak Slavonic to this day. As I have already mentioned in an earlier chapter, I found this out for myself, and indeed, on a recent visit to Halastra, I was told by local people that the inhabitants of Youndoular/Valmada still speak Macedonian, as they termed the local Slavonic dialect.

The expression 'corrupt language' has been very frequently used in Greek nationalist literature with reference to the Slavonic language known as Macedonian, which contains an admixture of Greek and Turkish words - as does Greek for that matter.

Even today there are some Greek historians who try to prove the non-existence of the Macedonian language or Macedonian consciousness by means of historical criteria regarding ethnic origins; however they neglect to apply the same criteria to the ethnic origins of their own Greek people."

First of all, i think you are trying to say 'he is gay' or even 'his gayness' not 'his gay'. If you are going to insult someone, get it right.

Secondly, the myth is that Macedonians are Greek. If you actually read once in a while instead of living in your dream world, you might learn a thing or two.

Myth? No myth here son..............you are 100% correct............the slav Macedonians certainly aren't Greek..............on the same subject, the original Macedonians aren't Slavs.................that dream world seems to be contagious.

history aside.... the Majority of the international community have recognised the Macedonians for who they are. They speak the Macedonian language and they refer to their nation as Macedonia. AS was recently stated at the US State Department.

Once the Greek nationalist are out of the picture, or are told to sit down and shut up, the situation will calm down.

history aside.... the Majority of the international community have recognised the Macedonians for who they are. They speak the Macedonian language and they refer to their nation as Macedonia. AS was recently stated at the US State Department.

Once the Greek nationalist are out of the picture, or are told to sit down and shut up, the situation will calm down.

You must have the same IQ of Bush, the clown in the US.

Sorry to tell you, but Greece told monkeys to sit down and shut up, otherwise kiss NATO and the EU goodbye.

Sorry to tell you, but Greece told monkeys to sit down and shut up, otherwise kiss NATO and the EU goodbye.

As i said before in my previous statement if it wasn't for Greece helping your country , or even giving its economic stance , most of the imports & exports come through Greece. 58 to 60% of your shit that is delivered to your so called country is Greek.

You make us out to be we are nazi's but you help them in world war 2 and welcome them with open arms.

Your country has time and time agian made bullshit up and changed its story around so many times that it doesn't even know which way it is coming or going anymore.

Your trying to respect and gain power off a greater larger nation which is America , and i think you guys are stupid because they're only a 300 year old civilization.

Yet you claim to call yourselves " MACEDONIANS" if you were so called Macedonian , your country would of had at least better infrastructure and you guys would of been a hell of alot smarter , but hey i think that 1000 years difference does make a difference and also being locked up and treated like dickheads by your pimp TITO.

I'd like to invite more people in a civil discussion basis to see if anyone can come up with evidence and show me properly that we are incorrect.

Then agian i bet all the sources would be coming from all your monkeydonian bruthers !

You are a lier and you know it. You call yourself orthodox how can you call yourself that when you lie everyday of your life. You lie and steal that is all you can do a true life of a gypsy. Remember this one day you are going to die and God will judge you then you will be sorry. how can you continue to lie why don't you just do your research and state the facts, historians and archaeologists from all over the world agree King Phillip and Alexander the Great are nothing but Hellenes. Ancient Macedon was a Greek Kingdom, I mean it's ridiculous stop these are all Greek names and terms they have meaning in Greek. This is laughable, stop and repent for your sins. If not why don't you and your people go to war for it if you think you are part of a warrior race why don't you give it a go sometime. Stop writing rubbish all over the Internet and fight for what you believe in. Probably it will be over with in less than a day.